Should we push the panic button?

Coronavirus cases in Israel are spiking, and the government on Friday reinstated the need to wear masks indoors just 10 days after the statute was lifted, barely any time to enjoy a bit of freedom. On Sunday, the coronavirus cabinet was expected to impose other restrictions – although it decided to hold off for just a little longer.

Is this the start of a fourth wave of infections or just part of our new, topsy-turvy COVID-19 world?

Israel must respond quickly and resolutely to the latest outbreak, but health experts agree that there is no reason to panic just yet.

This is what’s known: The Delta (Indian) variant, according to at least one study, doubles the risk of hospitalization compared with the previously dominant Alpha (British) variant. However, two doses of the Pfizer vaccine are between 88% and 96% effective against preventing hospitalization and severe disease.

Sixty percent of the public is inoculated, although the Delta variant does strike people who have been vaccinated. About one-third of new cases were people who had been inoculated.

In Israel, there was an increase in the number of new daily cases last week. However, there was no corresponding increase in the number of people hospitalized.

The country experienced “a terrible last year,” but now “we know what to do,” Hadassah-University Medical Center Director-General Zeev Rotstein told